A Cook County Hospital Emergency Medicine Blog for up-to-date medicine and more.
Figure 1. Procedural sedation agents (courtesy of EMRA).
Procedural sedation is a unique skill that is frequently utilized by Emergency Medicine (EM) trained physicians. Depending on the indication and patient’s clinical status, it can be both stressful and time consuming, but ultimately a procedure that must be mastered to facilitate safe and effective care for our patients. Let’s start with the basic steps and setup and finish with some article reviews.
Kathryn McGregor, MD; Taylor Wahrenbrock, MD; Eric Leser, MD
Read MoreInfluenza A is frequently a big culprit of respiratory illness during the winter months. Inevitably, the question often arrives from consultants, attendings, or colleagues at sign-out, “Did they get Tamiflu?” This is often met with a variety of responses and debates regarding its efficacy at times. However, what does the literature actually say regarding the use of Tamiflu?
Kathryn McGregor, MD and Eric Leser, MD
Read More“Sulfa” allergies are a commonly listed allergen. Each time we see this, we have to mentally or physically review the list of medications that contain “sulfa” as the many are not intuitive. Here, we evaluate whether non-antibiotic “sulfa” containing medications are safe to give those in patients with previous reactions to “sulfa” antibiotics.
Joanne C Routsolias, PharmD, RN, BCPS
Read More